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Friday, December 9, 2011

ever since hearing Neku was gonna be in Kingdom Hearts 3D I felt like I had to do some research on him. Found out what game he was from and also found out this game has a huge cult following.

The game is "The World Ends With You" for Nintendo DS. An underrated glorious RPG gem from the Kingdom Hearts team at Square Enix

It's the story of an angst ridden young man who is thrown into an alternate version of his hometown where he is forced to participate in what is known as the "Reaper's Game". A game that presents him with a new challenge each day for 7 days that he and his annoyingly cheery companion must complete in a set amount of time or face being "erased". These challenges vary from completing fetch quests to taking out the Noise (the Noise is what the enemies are called in this game). Usually resulting in a fight with a big boss Noise.

I picked up this game awhile back and played it obsessively ever since getting it for a few weeks, but had to take a break for awhile due to some major releases :whistle:

but I have once again picked it up and I must say... it's just as awesome as I remember :D

the gameplay relies almost entirely on the touchscreen. While the d-pad can be used to move while navigating, battles are strictly stylus only.

and here's how it works: throughout the game you get these "pins" that you can equip to Neku and the pins offer different battle abilities, once in battle a certain type of stylus movement will be used for certain attacks. for example, if you wish to slash an enemy, just do a quick swipe across them with the stylus. tapping an enemy repeatedly will shoot magic orbs at them. and holding the stylus on an enemy will set them ablaze.

The pins can only be used so many times in one battle before they need to recharge, which is why it's good to have multiple equipped.

At the end of each battle you are graded on how well you did with a letter score, with a Star for perfect. The score is based on many factors (health lost, time took, damage dealt. ect.) and the higher the score, the better the prizes.

The one bad thing is that you have to watch both screens, because while Neku is at the bottom, his companion is at the top fighting as well, and if either one loses all their health it's Game Over. You also have to switch often from character to charter. First you do a few quick stylus attacks with Neku, then switch to the girl and used the D-pad to attack by pressing button prompts. who you should be using at the moment is indicated by a green orb that floats from one screen to the next, highlighting whose turn it is.

the girl has 3 different moves and once you complete all 3 of them her and Neku can use a big special move.

This all sounds complicated but is actually much simpler once you play it and get the hang of it.

Most of the game focuses on fighting and story development, but there is also the opportunity to go shopping (which, regardless of the circumstances, the female character seems insistent on doing) and you can buy items to equip to your characters so long as they have enough SP.

one of the other things I absolutely love about this game is how almost the entire soundtrack consists of lyrical songs made specifically for this game.

The songs have a bit of a pop-ish, kind of hip-hop-ish feel to them, but it makes sense because the game takes place in an urban setting. Heck, just look at the cover:

my favorite song in the game is actually one that plays when you're simply walking around the city: